Artisans urged to improve standard

Tailors and fashion designers have been enjoined to improve on the standard of their profession.

According to the Director, Lagos State Ministry of Commerce and Industry (LSMCI), Mr Hakeem Adeniji, there is the need to move from the old order to a new one.

He spoke at the inauguration of local government executives and board of trustees of the Lagos State Tailors and Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (LASTFADAN). His paper was entitled: Duties and responsibilities of being a trustee.

Adeniji said the trusteeship of the association, which is life membership, should be reduced to a four-year term to allow for change. “I think four years is enough for any trustee to contribute his or her quota to the development of the association. I see either a patron or matron as a position that can be for lifetime but I do not agree with that of a trustee,” he added.

He said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry often advises association to make their president and other notable management members as trustees so that they can be more efficient. This, he said, was because they would be able to keep sensitive document such as acquisition of movable and immovable property of the association, among others.

Describing a trustee, Mr Yekini Kolawole, a barrister at law, said he is someone who has control on the money or property that was put in a trust for somebody. He is also a member of a group of people that controls financial affairs of a charity or other organisations, he added.

Kolawole, who presented the paper, said the Board of Trustees, which is also an advisory council on policies, should ensure high standard of morality and integrity in every activity of the association as custodian of information. “The board shall be vested with the assets of the association and serve as its keeper,” he said.

On the role of the board, he said: “It mediates and serves as arbitrator in dispute resolution between the executive and members.”